I am who I am
by Xross-33
Summary: *SPOILERS* Set after the Finale. I have a lot of things now, friends, a sister, a girlfriend. But i would give all of it up, i would make the world my enemy, nothing could get in my way if there was a path that leads me to him. I am not human, I am not clothing, I am who I am; and Senketsu's the only one who truly understands me.


I have things now, things that I never thought I would have before. Friends: me a Nonon hang out all the time. A sister: its been difficult but me and Satsuki are actually close now, we've been sharing an apartment for a couple of weeks. I even have a girlfriend, sort of, it's hard to say what exactly Mako and I are. While all of those things are great, the thing that I want the most is gone forever. Senketsu. My best friend, my partner, my equal. The only life form that can truly understand me.

I'm laying on the couch thinking of Senketsu again when Mako walks in the door, "RYUUKO CHAN!" She runs over and throws herself on me. I don't even grunt at the full force of her weight, another reminder that I'm not human. "Ryuuko what are you doing here! Satsuki said you've just been lying here all day. We should go out and do something!" Without waiting for a response Mako jumps up and attempts to drag me away from the couch, I don't budge.

I sigh, "Maybe some other time Mako, I'm tired."

"From what?! You don't do anything anymore!" Is Mako actually mad? "We haven't went on a date in weeks, you don't spend time with Satsuki, you and Sanageyama haven't fought in forever, you don't even go to school anymore! What are you even doing with your time? Ryuuko chan is Ryuuko chan, and Ryuuko will always be Ryuuko and a Ryuuko that doesn't spend time with her friends isn't the Ryuuko I know!"

Mako finishes her speech out of breath finally giving me some time to think. She's right I haven't done any of those things in weeks. I sigh again and halfheartedly reply, "Fine, lets go on a walk."

Mako leads me around in the summer heat talking animatedly about one thing or another, I'm not really paying attention. The clothes on my body feel foreign. They're not Senketsu. After I ripped of Junketsu those many months ago I swore I would never take Senketsu off again, wearing these feels like a betrayal. I should just rip them off, its not like I need them, I don't get warm or cold anymore, I'm sure that if my body can survive in the vacuum of space ill be fine anywhere.

Before I can finish my train of thought I feel a tap on my shoulder. I look over and see not just Mako but Sanageyama as well, dressed in a black gi with his own bamboo sword in his left hand, and a practice sword in his right hand, sigh.

"Matoi! I challenge you! Duel me and show your skill!" He holds out the extra sword to me while bowing. I'm about to tell him no but a look from Mako tells me that that isn't an option. Sigh.

I take the sword and take a step back, right now we're in an empty public park. Sanageyama is several feet away in his classic kendo stance Mako is in the middle but out of our way. She raises her hand in the air, "Ready, GO!"

When Mako's hand drops Sanageyama rushes at me blade held high. This is ridiculous. Right before the hit would land striking me directly on the forehead, I move. Its so easy almost like he's moving in slow motion. Is this what Nui was complaining about? I get where her sense of superiority came from now. I throw my sword down. "What's wrong Matoi, to chicken to fight without your ugly getup?" Sanageyama called out. That struck a nerve.

My expression grows dark as I answer him, "Watch your self Sanageyama. I don't need a blade to beat you, or Senketsu. I threw down my sword because a piss poor swordsman like you doesn't even stand a chance at beating me. I could block your flimsy blade with one hundredth of my strength. His eyes narrow and he glares at me, Were not playing anymore.

Mako seems to sense the change in atmosphere and tries to interject, "Um maybe we should take a break, my mom made Croquettes!" Neither of us pay her any mind.

Faster than before Sanageyama is on me. Feet planted firmly, swinging the blade horizontally for a strike that would severely injure any human. I could easily dodge it. But I want to prove a point. I raise one finger, my pinky finger, and stop the blade in place. Sanageyama looks at me shocked. "Right now im stronger than I ever was when I fought you, even with Senketsu." I lean in close to him, "And if you ever insult Senketsu again, you wont survive the ordeal." I punch him in the gut using not even half of my strength and he goes flying. I think I felt a rib break.

After that Mako was so mad that she wouldn't talk to me as she left to help Sanageyama get to the hospital, not that I cared much. I've been walking aimlessly for the last couple hours its only now that I find myself in front a very familiar building. "Honnoji Academy." Well it's not an academy anymore. After everything was settled, Mikisugi and Satsuki turned it into a museum with information about the life fiber war that we struggled in. The sign says there still open so I decide why not?

This is the first time I've been in the museum, Satsuki knows that I don't care much about things like this so she's never even asked me to come. I stop at an exhibit with a picture of my father. 'Soichiro Kiriuuin/Issin Matoi. The founder of the anti-life fiber movement. He trained his two daughters, Satuki Kiriuuin, and Matoi Ryuuko to resist the life fibers and fight for humanity.'

I scoff at that. "Not really; he may have prepared Satsuki, but when he handed me that scissor I had no idea what he intended for me. When I think about it now it sounds strange, he said, "take this scissor and you'll find the one who killed me." At first I thought he meant Satsuki, yet it was Nui who killed him and if she was looking for me its her who would have found me. Did he really intend for me to fight Nui then? If I had she would have killed me before I found Senketu or my life fibers had even activated I would have died immediately. If he really wanted to help me he should have told me where to find Senketsu.

I look down at the display case, where they have the rending scissors, 'Humanity's Ultimate weapon against life fibers.' Again wrong, those scissors didn't defeat Ragyo, they couldn't even cut her, Senketsu did.

The deeper in to the museum I walk, the more uneasy I feel. My blood runs hot and I can feel my heart pumping faster. I pass an exhibit on the elite four, then one on Ragyo. When I finally reach the end there are only two exhibits left, as expected one on Satsuki, with bakuzan in its case. What I didn't expect was the size of my own exhibit next to hers. Both of our exhibits are in the same long hallway, hers along the wall, mine however takes up the entire back wall, if I was paying attention I would have seen it long before now.

There's a statue of me, wearing Sendketsu next to the exhibit, 'Matoi, Ryuuko, hero of humanity wearing her battle Kamui.' The description of me is lengthy telling pretty much all of my adventures since first arriving in this place. However in the whole description they never use Senketsu's name. They never mention that I'm a life fiber being. At the tend it just says 'Using her battle Kamui, as well as collected life fibers from Satsuki kiriuuin's battle kamui as well as all of the goku uniforms, Matoi defeated Ragyo and saved the world.' There is nothing about Senketsu, Nothing about what I really am. Satsuki is trying to cover it up. Is that why she didn't want me to come here? She didn't want me to see! She knew I would be angry. The uneasy feeling inside be grows the more heated I get.

I cant believe she would do this. She talked with Senketsu, they fought together, and she's willing to just let him be FORGOTTEN! I lose it. I punch the wall in my rage; the left side of the hallway crumbles into dust and my knuckles don't even hurt. The uneasy feeling increases ten times, its like my blood is on fire. When the dust clears I don't see what I expected, I see stairs leading down deep beneath the museum. If I remember correctly that's where the sewing club headquarters used to be.

Without hesitating I begin my descent, "What else are you hiding, Satsuki Kiriuuin?"

When I get to the bottom of the stairs, I can feel them. Life fibers, tiny ones floating in the air. This place must not be as abandoned as it seems, the sewing machines were at work recently. My only question, where did they get the life fibers? All normal fibers should have died off months ago without hosts, Junketsu was absorbed by Senketsu and Senketsu burned up in the atmosphere. I should be the only source active life fibers on the planet.

I begin to walk slower as I hear voices ahead of me. "Do you think this will work?" that was definitely Satsuki, what is she doing here?

"Honestly? No, nothing we've tried has worked so far, and at this point I don't think Nui, or even your father could even do it" Is that Iori? What is he doing here? He's a big fashion designer now; last I heard he was living in Paris.

I take another step forward and the voices go silent. I crouch on the ground and move as stealthily as possible towards the room Satsuki is in. Or was in, I'm right outside the door now and I can't hear a thing, maybe they left out of a back entrance?

I creep through the doorframe, but before I can even look around, I feel a something against the side of my head. "Don't mo- wait, Ryuuko? What are you doing here?" Satsuki is standing pressed up against the wall holding a sewing needle gun to my temple.

I stand up but don't answer her. This room is an observation room, probably where the first goku uniforms were made; I can see a giant sewing machine in the other room through a glass window. But it's not the machine I'm interested in, from here I can see a piece of red cloth nailed against the opposite wall in the sewing room. "Satsuki." My voice is as even as I can make it, there must be a misunderstanding, that can't be what I think it is, I have to be calm and understanding so that Satsuki can explain it to me. "What is that?"

Satsuki's eyes narrow, "its nothing, just a project me and Iori are working on."

In the corner of my eye I see Iori inching away from us, "Just a project? Using life fibers? Where did you even get life fibers from?" The anger is starting to seep into my voice. "Just one more question. Is it him?"

She opens her mouth but hesitates, "He's dead. I didn't want to tell you because it would only make you feel worse, Iori and I were trying to revive him."

Now my voice is dripping with malice, "Your lying to me! Kiriuuin Satsuki! Do you think I can't tell while in the same room as him? We are of one body, one soul! Senketsu is alive!"

I take off in a burst of speed launching through the observation window directly at Senketsu, I hear Satsuki shout behind me, "IORI!" I'm closer now I can see, I can make out Senketsu's scarf, it only has one eye on it and it's closed probably in deep hibernation, but alive.

Suddenly giant metal doors slam shut in front of me, blocking me off from Senketsu. I turn and see Satsuki running towards me, "You need to stop this Ryuuko, I didn't tell you for your own good." 

For my own good? "LIAR! Senketsu is here, alive, the one thing that means more to me than anything! Nothing good can come from us being separated!"

I turn back around and punch the wall with all of my strength, I can feel my life fibers reacting to Senketsu's presence. My hand pierces through the wall like paper. I punch the other hand through and begin prying the door open large enough for me to get through.

There he is, Kamui Senketsu. I reach out and pull him from the wall, stroking his eye gently. "Stop this Ryuuko. Last chance." Satsuki is behind me leveling a sewing gun at my face.

I ignore her, and bite my thumb drawing blood. The would heals almost instantly but there is still blood on my skin, I put my thumb to Senketsu, and my heart skips a beat when the moisture is immediately absorbed. I start crying, "Senketsu!"


End file.
